


Perchance to Dream

by Mouse9



Category: Doctor Strange (2016)
Genre: Come on, F/M, Sherlock References, because
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-17
Updated: 2016-11-17
Packaged: 2018-08-31 11:57:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8577646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mouse9/pseuds/Mouse9
Summary: Vivid dreams don't just suddenly happen.  And especially not the same dream every night.  Something, or some one is behind this and Christine is determined to find out who.





	

It was gradual.

Glimpses of half remembered dreams from the night before, flashes of color that appeared behind her eyes while she was treating a patient.  Tactile memories while she was charting. 

It took almost a week before she realized she was having the same dream over and over, had been for over a week.  Once she consciously realized this the dream came out in stunning, realistic clarity.  Images that were so real to her that more than once she woke from a dead sleep, heart pounding her chest and need pooling in her groin.  After the third time of waking up with her fingers between her legs and the fading memory of lips and fingers on her, she refused to go back to bed, instead making some coffee and trying to figure out why she kept have the same sex dream involving one Stephen Strange. 

A search on the internet brought up link after link of dream interpretation websites and what dreams- especially those kind of dreams- meant.  One link she clicked accidentally mentioned controlling one’s dreams and when she typed that into the search engine a link appeared at the bottom of the page. 

Dream manipulation.

Curious, she clicked on the link and read the articles.  They weren’t scientific at all- far from it.  Nothing was cited, it wasn’t researched and most of the links on this site lead to metaphysical sites or spiritual stores.  

But the more she read, the more she thought she’d found the answer. 

It wasn’t her.

She couldn’t have the same dream every day for almost two weeks, it was impossible.  It wasn’t her subconscious that was trying to tell her something, this was metaphysical.  The site said that others could…

“That son of a bitch!”  she snarled, voice raspy from unuse and left over sleep.  She snatched her phone from the side of the desk and shot off a text. 

**You son of a bitch!**

It was almost two hours later when she finally received a return text.  She had just left the shower, a towel wrapped around her body when she spotted the blinking light on her phone telling her she had a message.  

**What did I do?  I haven’t seen you in weeks.**

Anger surged in her chest.  She thought he’d changed.  But obvious he still refused to admit when he was beat.

**Don’t act innocent.  You know exactly what you’ve been doing.  I’m on to you!**

The return text was almost immediate. 

**I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about.**

Growling, she threw the phone on the bed while she got dressed for her shift.  Her phone was blinking when she returned to get her shoes. 

**What have I supposedly done?**

**Christine?**

**Are you not talking to me now?**

**This is childish.**

If looks could be transported via phone, he’d be gravely injured by now. 

**Dream manipulation?  Ring a bell?  I don’t appreciate having my dreams taken over.**

She waited for him to deny it with some halfhearted denial.   The phone beeped.

**Dream manipulation is a very dangerous art.  I’ve only just come across text regarding it.**

**Hold on.**

Hold on?  Hold on??  He didn’t even deny it!

**I will not!  I have to get to work.  Stay out of my dream Stephen!**

***                                               *                                                                          *                                                       ***

He didn’t contact her throughout her shift.  A fact that both annoyed and depressed her.  The least he could do was apologize.  He said he’d wanted to repair things between them, to renew their…friendship.  This was a shitty way to start.  

She was still mad when she got home late that night.  She slid her key into the lock and slipped into her apartment, tossing the keys into a bowl by the door and turning on a light.  She was tired but she didn’t want to have any more dreams.  They were embarrassing and if she was going to be a little honest with herself, she was more tired when she woke up. 

“I have never used dream manipulation on you Christine.”

Christine screamed, whirling around and grabbing the first thing she could grab-an umbrella.  The small table lamp by her couch turned on and Stephen stood up, half shrouded in shadows.

“What the hell are you doing here?  You scared the hell out of me!”

“I noticed.”  He walked towards her as she turned on an overhead light, casting the shadows from the room and illuminating Stephen.  He was wearing loose fitting trousers and a button-down shirt, the ever-present cloak firmly attached to his shoulders. “I have never been in your dreams Christine.  If I wanted to see you, I would just come over.”

“I haven’t seen you in a month and how did you get into my house?”

He gave her a look as if to tell her she knew exactly how he’d gotten into her house. 

“After you yelled at me via text, I went to see Wong.  He gave me several books regarding dream manipulation that I spent the day studying.  He also inquired whether you should have protection.  Dream manipulation is very serious and very dangerous if not done right.”  He held out his hands in supplication.  “It isn’t something to do on a lark, especially not to make you have weird sex dreams.”

The blush came involuntary, making her even angrier.  “Don’t pull your weird Sherlock Holmes act on me, Stephen.”

He hid a smirk.  “I’m a doctor, not a consulting detective.  And it was easy to figure out.  I haven’t had a chance to see you in weeks and suddenly I get an angry text from you accusing me of something I had no idea how to do until today.  Your last words to me were  _Stay out of my dreams Stephen_.  It’s easy to put two and two together, I don’t have to be a genius to figure that out.”

He moved his hand past his shoulder and the cloak moved away to lean itself against the coat rack by the front door. 

“First, we have to figure out who’s invading your dreams.  Which now, unfortunately, means I have to do the one thing you accused me of doing in the first place.”

“Oh no.”   She waved a hand dismissively and walked towards the kitchen, Stephen following.  “No thank you.  It’s bad enough I’m having them, I don’t need you actually in my dreams.”

“Be reasonable Christine, whomever is doing this to you is doing it to weaken your defenses.  I need to know the reason and if you’re in danger.”  His look darkened.  “I won’t have you in danger, not if I can stop it.”

“I don’t want you in my dreams.”

“By your own count, it won’t be anything I haven’t seen before.”

“You’ve been voyeur to your own sexual encounters?”

“I-well, no.  I’ll try to remain detached.”

“I’m not sure if I should be insulted or annoyed.”

“Can we try for neither?”  He crossed the floor to where she was standing and took her hands.  “This is embarrassing, I understand.  To have your most intimate thought splayed open for people to see.  But by your own admission this has been happening for almost two weeks; someone is in your dreams, guiding it and witnessing your personal fantasies over and over again.”

“Not making me feel better.”

“I go in, find what’s causing it, correct it and get out.  I won’t stay to watch nor will I try to manipulate you in any way in the dream, you have my word.”

She looked up at him, at his stupid goatee and his stupid handsome face and his stupid eyes, sincerity and concern evident in them.  She huffed out a breath and leaned forward, her head coming to rest against his chest. He let go of her hands to wrap his arms around her. 

“I hate this.” 

“I know.  For what it’s worth, I’m sorry you’re getting caught up in this.”

“It seems this time it isn’t your fault.”

She felt him chuckle lowly.  “As opposed to every other time?”

She smiled against his chest and pulled back enough to look up at him.  “Promise me you won’t hold whatever you see against me.”

“Promise.  Although I have to say that I’m a little jealous of dream me.”

 *                                                          *                                    *                                                                          *

It felt a little odd, getting ready for bed while her ex sat in a chair in her bedroom.  But exhaustion soon overwhelmed nervousness and she fell asleep a little after her head hit the pillow.  

It was early, still dark out, when she woke up with a start her heard pounding against her chest and her palms sweaty.  She couldn’t remember much of the dream this time, just the beginning and the hyper realistic feel of the dream she’d been having for weeks.  Then it went fuzzy, as if her mind didn’t want her to remember what happened next.  She remembered flashes of lights, glowing objects appearing in thin air, the sounds of battle and the smell of electricity in the air.  She remembered being terrified.

She scanned the darkened room nervously spotting Stephen seemingly asleep in the chair.  She threw off the covers and hurried towards him the terror rising in her throat.  He moaned softly before she could touch him and she let out an unconscious breath in a huge whoosh.   He sat up and winced, groaning again. 

“That was not fun.  Remind me to tell Wong that this warning needs to be moved to the beginning of the book.”

“Are you okay?”  She knelt in front of her, eyes clinically scanning for any injuries. 

“Sore, tired, aching.  But yes, I’m fine.”  He raised a trembling hand to his head and shook off the remnants of the spell.  Opening his eyes, he reached out to touch a hand.  “How are you?”

“Fine.  I don’t remember much of the dream, I’m afraid.  Which I’m wondering is a good thing.”

“A very good thing.  The incubus wasn’t attractive in any fashion.  I managed to get a scant amount of information from it before it destroyed itself though.  So, you shouldn’t have any other problems.  If you agree though, I’ll have someone come over tomorrow-er, later today- to ward your apartment.”

“Why can’t you do it?”

He blinked.  “Sorry?”

Christine stood up, not releasing his hand.  “You.  Why can’t you do it?”

“Honestly?  Because I figured you wouldn’t want me in your space, doing things you didn’t understand.”

She half smiled, gently tugging on his hand to get him to stand.  “Sometimes you really are clueless.  We talked about starting over.  Why wouldn’t I want you in my home?”

“Again, I don’t want to do anything presumptuous or to make you uncomfortable.”

She sighed, tugging at his hand again.  “Come to bed.”

“Okay, that’s a little presumptuous on your part.”

“Don’t be obtuse.  You probably just saved my life, you’re exhausted.  Why waste energy creating a portal to go back to your house when you can just sleep here and re energize?”

“Remember the part where you insisted we were going to take this slow?”

“Yes, which is why you’re sleeping in my bed and I’ll be sleeping on the couch.”  Letting go of his hand she gave him a small push towards her bed.  “Sleep.  You’ll feel better when you wake.”

His fingers wrapped around her wrist before she could move completely away from him.  She stopped moving as he turned towards her, his other hand raising to touch her face. 

“Thank you.”  He said softly.  Smiling, she lifted to her toes and pressed a soft kiss against his lips.  His fingers tightened against her wrist momentarily and released when she moved away.  

“Thank you.  Now go to sleep.”

She watched as he toed off his shoes and climbed into her bed, his eyes already drooping.  She walked towards her bedroom door when a thought came to her. 

“Stephen?”

“Hmmm?”  His voice was sleepy. 

“You…didn’t see anything, did you?  
Even in the darkened room, she could swear she could feel his eyes on her. 

“I did promise Christine.  So, see anything?  No.  However, I did hear a couple of things.  Let’s just say I am very curious.”

“Oh God,” she groaned hurrying out of the room, her face burning.  She’d deal with that embarrassment tomorrow.  Picking up the throw on the back of her couch, she wrapped it around her and laid down on the couch.  Within minutes, she had fallen into a peaceful, invader free sleep. 


End file.
